Amen. What God calls one to the provision has already been prepared. One just has to seek the Lord and stay in the steps He has ordered, and they will meet the provision.
The “poor in spirit” are those that live in spiritual brokenness (repentance) and submission to God. Matthew 5:3 is a present tense statement, and the rest of the beatitudes are future tense, thus dependent on the first. In fact the whole sermon (Matthew 5-7) is subject to 5:3. You cannot achieve any of the instructions in Matthew 5-7 without first being “poor in spirit”.
As I started reading this I was shaking my head in disbelief and wondering where you came up with what poor in spirit meant. And then as I kept reading I realized you and I agreed. So I apologize for my skeptical conclusion before I finished reading to the end.
I try to avoid even listening to any of the false prophets, especially those who prey on the elderly and more easily influenced people. My heart breaks for those who get sucked in too such false lies. Corrupting of our Lords teachings is in my opinion blasphemy. I know there are no degrees of sin but I wish those who prey on the less fortunate and elderly, especially for monetary gain and who never repent and obey the Gospel get special punishment when they leave this earth or when Jesus returns to pass judgment.
I'm glad you kept reading! It is indeed a tremendous shame when people pervert the teachings of our Lord - especially so they can profit off of their listeners.
Amen. What God calls one to the provision has already been prepared. One just has to seek the Lord and stay in the steps He has ordered, and they will meet the provision.
The “poor in spirit” are those that live in spiritual brokenness (repentance) and submission to God. Matthew 5:3 is a present tense statement, and the rest of the beatitudes are future tense, thus dependent on the first. In fact the whole sermon (Matthew 5-7) is subject to 5:3. You cannot achieve any of the instructions in Matthew 5-7 without first being “poor in spirit”.
In many ways, the rest of the Sermon on the Mount is "practical" teaching about what the Beatitudes will look like in someone's life.
As I started reading this I was shaking my head in disbelief and wondering where you came up with what poor in spirit meant. And then as I kept reading I realized you and I agreed. So I apologize for my skeptical conclusion before I finished reading to the end.
I try to avoid even listening to any of the false prophets, especially those who prey on the elderly and more easily influenced people. My heart breaks for those who get sucked in too such false lies. Corrupting of our Lords teachings is in my opinion blasphemy. I know there are no degrees of sin but I wish those who prey on the less fortunate and elderly, especially for monetary gain and who never repent and obey the Gospel get special punishment when they leave this earth or when Jesus returns to pass judgment.
I'm glad you kept reading! It is indeed a tremendous shame when people pervert the teachings of our Lord - especially so they can profit off of their listeners.